Spectacular flypast capped a day of festivities for an airport celebrating a landmark and marking the end of an era.

Two Thirties planes swooped low over Shoreham Airport on Tuesday afternoon, 70 years to the day after the airport's art deco terminal was opened by the mayors of Brighton, Hove and Worthing.

It was the last major event being staged at the distinctive municipal airport before it is taken over by private owners Erinaceous in a few weeks' time.

Airport manager John Haffendon said: "It was a fantastic day, and perhaps a fitting end to an era for us."

A crowd of guests and onlookers gathered at the terminal, which recently featured in the Hollywood blockbuster The Da Vinci Code, to enjoy the celebrations.

They were entertained by a jazz band and admired several classic planes on the runway, including a wooden replica of the first aircraft to take off from Shoreham, a Humming Bird biplane designed by former Lancing College pupil Harold Pifford.

Among the crowd were Nonie Cellier, Ron Loadsman and John Lewery, who all attended the airport's opening ceremony on June 13, 1936.

Mrs Cellier, whose father Cecil Pashley was a legendary pilot and flying instructor, was seven years old at the time.

She said: "I remember the day - I was sat up on the roof of the building watching the planes taking off and performing displays. It's wonderful to be back and to see the airport doing so well today."

Her father, known as "Pash", logged more than 20,000 flying hours and taught thousands of trainee pilots. The road leading to the airport has been named after him and one of the aircraft in the flypast, a De Havilland Tiger Moth, is called Spirit Of Pashley.

Mrs Cellier's actor husband Peter said: "He was a remarkable man, he taught me to loop-the-loop when he was 70."

One famous story about Pashley involves a time when he begrudgingly accepted to fly a very heavy man to Redhill for a large sum of money. His plane struggled from the ground at Shoreham and made its way towards the South Downs.

As he got closer to the hills Pashley realised he could not gain enough altitude to make it over but, never one to be put off, he landed on the near side of the hill, taxied his plane over the top and then took off again.

Originally named Brighton, Hove and Worthing Airport, the Shoreham facility has been run by the neighbouring councils since its creation.

When it was opened it was no more than a field with a terminal building and a hanger. Since then the airport has been surrounded by factories, offices and warehouses, mostly operated by aviation firms.

In the Forties, scheduled flights ran from the airport but it has been used mostly for pleasure flying and small aircraft since then.

Erinaceous negotiated the purchase earlier this year but has said it will remain a light aviation airport.

Erinaceous business development manager Nick Cummings said: "It's great to see the terminal recognised as it has been today. The building is one of the things that most attracted us to the airport.

"We want to keep the terminal and refurbish it, as well as investing in other facilities."